goodbye to 2011

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37

I'm 37 today. 

We have a busy day full of a little travel, family, food and lots of presents of course.  I gave myself a present and started the day with a run.  I started running this past summer and it's one of the very best things about this past year for me.  

Happy Holidays to you all! 

favorite

As you may have noticed by now, the newest toy is almost always my favorite.  I'm pretty sure that says something about me but I don't feel like exploring it at the moment!  I was asked to make a bear for a project (more later once it becomes more concrete) and I took the opportunity to draft a new pattern.  I sometimes name my patterns after an event or an occasion for which I am creating them like "Heath" or "Renegade".  This pattern is called "The Last Bear".  I guess I was feeling at the time like it might be the last one.  Once I made the bear however and I was so pleased with it I realized it's pretty unlikely this will be the last pattern (or bear) I make.  I love it too much to ever really stop.  I told you this studio move has got me feeling pretty transitional over here!  I'm done with my orders now and spending this time before Christmas turning my dining room (my former studio) back into a dining room, making presents and doing little Christmassy projects with my boys.  It feels good.

Once again, this fabric was given to me by a friend.  Thanks T.T for this amazing pink wool hounds tooth!  What timing!

rabbit friend

I just made two new Rabbit Friends...one as a custom order and another to put in my shop.  This time I made them with some gorgeous vintage velvet a friend gave me.  I just put this Rabbit Friend in my shop!

Thanks to GR for the fabric!

special one

I've been working away on custom orders this past week.  This is a bear I made for a dear customer who'd been dreaming of him for quite some time.  It's a pattern I hadn't used in ages but I'm so happy I had the chance to work with it again...I love it.  This guy ended up with such a good personality I think, I was a little sad to see him go but so very happy to hear how happy his new owner (well, owner's mom I guess!) is with him.  I made another bear this week that I'm pretty excited about too...I show you that one next time.

I've stopped taking custom orders now and I'm trying hard to finish up all my toy obligations in the next couple of days.  It will be a while before I'm able to make work again.  I've started packing up all my stuff for the big move to the new backyard studio.  It will be a month or so before the space is completely finished and set up for working which is good because I feel like I need some time to really think about how I want to use the new space.  It's a big time of transition around here.

the tree

It was the perfect snowy evening to get our tree.  We are lucky...there is a place around the corner from our house that has a Christmas tree lot each year.  We opted for the "Charlie Brown" tree this year meaning that it's kind of sparse and skinny (and cheap, which is good too).  I like a tree like that, it looks very old fashioned to me.

I'll be sharing my so-called studio with the Christmas tree for the next week while I finish up some custom work and a few presents.  Then I'm packing it all up and moving it into my very own brand new studio attached to our garage which is just about done!

in the shop

I've put two of these Mouse in a Stocking Ornaments in my shop.  The mouse is removable and the stocking is made from wool felt.  It's trimmed with pretty vintage buttons, wool felt greenery and a paper banner that reads Merry Christmas.  There are two available! One left!

mouse nap

Jude adopted this mouse I  made for a little-Christmas-something I'll be adding to my shop soon.  When he saw it he said "oh!  Is that for me?!"  and looked at me with his big beautiful eyes in such a hopeful way.  Of course I had to tell him it was for him!  The sight of him napping with his little mouse makes having to make an extra totally worth it.  I'm so happy he still likes soft cute toys.

Heath Ceramics

I'm happy to report I finished that wholesale order I was talking about and I realized I never announced where all those rabbits and baby toys were off to.  I'm thrilled that Heath Ceramics will be selling my work!  I'm excited and grateful for the opportunity.  Heath is an amazing company and I respect the quality and the ethos of their work so much (okay, I covet just about everything they make) so I jumped at the chance to make work for their stores.  I sent them Rabbit Friends and Waldorf style baby toys and a small edition of simple little jointed bears- just for Heath- wearing feedsack neckerchiefs.  If you are not familiar with Heath, head over to their website to learn about their rich history and philosophy and dream about eating off gorgeous hand made ceramics everyday.

ready to go!

A couple more peeks at what I'll be adding to the shop today at noon....I'll have 40 new items!  I'm setting up a 10% coupon today for you lovely blog readers.  Use coupon code MONDAYMONDAY today for your discount. 

fox & owl vintage

vintage shop update preview # 2

More things I'll be adding to my vintage shop for tomorrow's update.  There is still a lot more.  I picked the cloudiest weekend ever to take pictures but I managed.  It will be fun to have a well stocked shop again.  Come take a look tomorrow!

Yes Tammy, I'm totally teasing you!!

vintage shop update preview # 1

Some of the treasures that I'll be adding to my vintage shop on Monday.  I have lots of kids clothes too and I'll give you a little peek at some of those in preview #2. 

fox and owl vintage: shop update!

Get ready.  This Monday at noon CST (that's CYBER MONDAY, people!) I'll finally be updating my vintage shop with a whole new batch of amazing vintage treasures.  I'll post some preview pictures here over the weekend.

I found this dreamy image from here via Pinterest.  Do you love Pinterest as much as I do???

by mail

Oscar's birthday is right around the corner...six years old!!  I'm feeling so busy this year, I had a moment of weakness:  I suggested to Oscar that perhaps we would just send out an E-vite this year because I was afraid we wouldn't get our usual handmade invitations in the mail in time.  His response was this:  "NOOOOOOoooooooooooo!"  Thank goodness he is stronger than I.  I totally understand the appeal of an E-vite but making and mailing invitations is such a fun project and do you remember the excitement of getting something special in the mail as a kid?  I hate to think that could disappear.  Instead you just have to say to your kid "oh, hey by the way you got invited to a party."  So much less fun.

These are our best invitations yet I think because they were almost entirely made by Oscar.  We threw caution to the wind an let him invite all the full day kids in his class for a bowling party. 

Okay, back to work!

about the holidays

I've had some inquiries about what my plans are for toys this season.  Here is the deal:  Because I have been so busy with custom orders and this wholesale order, I will not be updating my shop this winter.  If you were hoping to get a little something special from me this Christmas I have set aside a period of time in December to do a few CUSTOM ORDERS.  If you would like me to make you something, please email me your questions or request at:  foxandowltoys@gmail.com.  I'll only have time to make a handful of toys and I'll need to have orders placed by early December. I will mail them out on or before December 13th.  I've made a little menu of sorts here for you to see some of the toys I'm currently making and their prices.  Of course, I'm not able to do exact replicas of any of these pieces, but I can make you something with the same pattern and slight variations.  If you have something else in mind based on something you have seen here on my blog or in my Etsy shop, I'm open to that too. I look forward to making something special for you!

 

progress

Nine Rabbit Friends.

superbusy

Sheesh, what a week.  I'm working really hard to fill a big (well big for me since I'm a one woman operation) order for some toys.  I'll tell you more about that soon, but in the mean time be patient with me as I may not be around here too much in the next week or so.  How on earth can it be November 11th already?

sisters

I just finished a custom order for two bears for two sisters.  They have such a big sister/little sister quality to them I think.  It was such a fun project to work on because it was really open ended which allows me to let the personalities of the toys unfold in their own time and in their own way. 

inside and out

Amazing progress is being made on the new garage and studio...I'm so excited to get in there!  I'm making progress on custom orders inside too, these two bears are to be special Christmas presents for two lucky sisters. 

Happy Halloween!

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lost tooth!

Oscar lost his tooth last night!  Sadly, he actually LOST it...I think he might have swallowed it.  He was really disappointed about that but I suggested he draw a picture of it and write the tooth fairy a little note (thanks for the idea, Tammy!)and that seemed to make him feel pretty okay about it.  I think his note is even more precious than the actual tooth.  He made up a word:  frstooth= first tooth.  

Thanks so much for the kind words about tooth buddy.  It feels so good to make something new and different and get a positive response from you.

loose tooth

Oscar has his first loose tooth and I mean it is  l  o  o  s  e !  I took a little time away from custom work this morning to make him this tooth buddy with a li'l tooth/money sack. I'm excited to give it to him but I think I'll wait until his tooth actually falls out which should be very soon...unless he's one of those kids that lets the tooth hang on by a thread for like, days and days.  Gross!

portrait

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lamb's ears

Jude thought it would be funny to make some lamb's ears for himself out of two leaves from the "lamb's ear" plant in our garden.  Just for laughs.  Good one Jude!

new friend in the toy cupbord

A Play Rabbit with pink pants!

vintage shop update

I just updated my vintage shop Fox and Owl Vintage with a few new items including this amazing kid's Halloween cape!  I'm sorry to say that my own kids found ratty lycra superhero costumes at the thrift store that they are VERY excited about so there will be no charming home made or vintage costumes for them this year.